1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of molds for producing ceramic vessels including the process involved and more particularly to a novel mold having a central ring defining cavity where unsupported portions of formable ceramic material may be manually manipulated into a variety of components so that a variety of ceramic vessels can be produced.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In the past, a number of techniques have been employed for the production of ceramic vessels such as pots, vases or the like which either required a great deal of skill and a minimum of special equipment or which required extensive specialized equipment. One prior technique is referred to as "throwing on the potter's wheel" and this technique requires a maximum amount of training and skill on the part of the artisan. The possibilities for production are only limited by the skills and the imagination of the potter or artisan. Physically demanding, the output is limited by the strength and endurance of the potter. Another prior technique is known as "jiggering" and involves using a plaster mold centered on a special potter wheel. With the mold spinning, clay as a ceramic material is fully supported by the rigid mold and is roughly formed to the inside shape of the mold with the workman's fingers. The final shape and thickness is achieved by lowering a template on the end of a jigger arm into the spinning mold. The mold is removed with the shaped ceramic piece inside, set aside to dry and a new mold is placed on the potter's wheel for production of another piece. The advantage of this technique is that the resultant shape can be reproduced accurately. This stems largely from the fact that the walls of the mold are rigid and are configured to the desired shape so that the ceramic material can be pressed there against to assume the desired shape. Again, the ceramic material is completely supported during the performance of the technique which greatly limits the ability of the potter to vary the shape during the performance of the technique away from the shape of the rigid pre-shaped mold. Still another conventional process or technique is referred to as "ram pressing". This technique uses a hydraulic ram to form the material by employing pressure over a plaster mold. However, a separate mold must be made for any changes in the form or size of the object to be produced. The molds are difficult to construct and expensive to produce and represent a significant commitment to production on the part of a producer. Also, the hydraulic ram presses are extremely expensive and such presses offer very little versatility for making changes in design.
Therefore, a long standing need has existed to provide a novel ceramic vessel production technique and mold apparatus which employs a mold composed of several components which may be rapidly placed together in order to define a molding cavity in which unsupported portions of ceramic material can be worked on with the fingertips of an artisan. The walls of the material being worked on are unsupported so that a variety of shapes can be achieved by the user without changing molds or disrupting the molding process. Also, separate employment of component mold parts presents a variety of piece size, proportion and the overall general shape.